Growing Pains
by Famirad
Summary: Rejected by Spiderman, the Symbiote takes on a new host. More importantly, a WILLING host: Eddie Brock. [Oneshot]


**Growing Pains**  
by Famira Damaris

**Disclaimer**: Don't own Spider-man or Venom or anything. Marvel does, so yep.  
**Author's Note**: Just a one-shot. Takes place after Eddie gets his symbiote. Going with shuttle-origins as usual. More of a character study than anything else. Could have ties with "Black Sustenance", if you read it that way. shrug

_Italics_ for emphasis/thoughts  
**Archive**: Sure, just ask first

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Growing Pains  
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Eddie Brock wasn't quite sure what to do with his newfound powers. After all, it had only been a day or so after that fateful night at the church: when he prayed for forgiveness and salvation, he had instead received the Other. The growing bond he had now told him that this Other was hardly a sign of God - perhaps something as old, as timeless, but hardly a gift from some benevolent Old Guy Upstairs in the Attic. All Eddie knew was this was a second chance for him, even if it did seem like sometimes he was only a passenger in his own body.

Correction: _their_ body.

Because now there were two and really, he should be getting used to the voices in his head, seeing as the one right now was very real and currently very annoyed at its recent life so far. It was also the one in control, although it humored him most of the time. Let Eddie go through the mundane motions of human life - the symbiote would only bother if something actually pressing came up worthy of its attention. For now it only hovered in the background, giving Eddie time to adjust to the new powers and the shared memories that came flooding in. Some were more pleasant than others. One in particular circled around and around, like a train on a track that lead nowhere but back to its own tail.

Peter Parker was Spider-man. _Spider-fucking-man_.

That pretty much blew Eddie's mind right there. It was hard to picture that scrawny new guy playing reporter at the Bugle as the same guy flying around New York playing hero.

Looking in the mirror, Eddie touched his cheek experimentally. It didn't feel any different and he looked the same: slate-gray eyes stared back, a frown creasing his face. His reflection looked damn exhausted, what with those black circles under his eyes, but he felt pretty much the same. He couldn't quite control the Venom transformation yet - it just seemed to _happen_ - but it wouldn't be long. Seeing as he didn't have a job any more at the Bugle (thanks to _Parker_), Eddie suddenly had free time on his hands. A lot of free time.

The only thing he knew for certain was the Symbiote and he shared the same hatred for a certain Spider. It just happened to coincide that Eddie happened to hate Parker, so that worked out as well, coincidentally. And while the Symbiote hadn't known about the concept of revenge before it arrived on Earth, it knew now and it liked very much this novel human trait. One of the few things on this miserable planet that it approved of.

Eddie felt that already-familiar numbness descending on his body as the healing symbiote suddenly woke up, but he still couldn't help a convulsive shudder as it took control with its usual tact. Feeling like a bystander, he watched as his body in the mirror twitched and then slumped back, like a puppet with its strings cut, only to slump forward as the black ooze of the Symbiote reformed around him in inky tendrils. Drooling fangs sprouted around his head and engulfed it, a long snakelike tongue lashing out as Venom suddenly formed, a white black widow on his chest the last thing to appear. It blossomed outward in a flourish.

"Much better," purred Venom, touching a claw to the black widow symbol. "We like this appearance; very fierce. Very appropriate indeed."

Venom turned this way and that, examining himself in the mirror of Eddie's tiny bathroom. Venom was as complete as he was ever going to be, a man-shaped creature that was at least several times Spider-man's size, complete with bulging muscles, enormous claws and a gaping maw filled with rows and rows of teeth that leered back at them in the reflection. This was the first time they had managed to a full transformation for anything over a couple of seconds and so far the form was holding together nicely. This host was cooperating much better than the previous one and was in fact quite obedient, almost disappointingly so. It was almost too easy. But then again, trying to fight off the Spider had been in another ballpark altogether than any old human.

_Wonderful._ This time it was Eddie's thoughts mingling in with the symbiote's, blurring together so it was hard to tell where Eddie ended and Venom began. _Now we're picking up slang. _

A bit of a horrifying thought to the Symbiote, but it was better than blinking out of existence into oblivion. Better than nothing. Their continued survival was more important than suffering the indignity of picking up human language.

Besides, with such a seamless bonding to its new host, this was really a small price to pay.

It was getting very comfortable in his (their) body. How would humans say it?

"Made for each other," Venom hissed in reply and grinned, a terrible leer full of dagger-long fangs. "We're a perfect match, Eddie Brock."

**End**  
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Venomfun to write. Nuff said. :P


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